A/N Shoutout to SheWhoTurnedToDust, DivergentUnicorn46, WriterGirl001, and two RGPs (Random Guest Person, as The221cTimeLord says) for reviewing last chapter, it's largely thanks to you guys that this chapter's out now and not in three/four more weeks, although it is still out later than I would like.. Because I've had Doctor Who feels on my mind, plus I'm Muslim and it's Ramadan, meaning I can't eat or drink from sunrise to sunset, which isn't exactly beneficial to creative thoughts and writing.. Anywho, yeah! On to the chapter!
The rest of the school day goes as smoothly as should be expected, as nothing unusual happens besides Peter's constant unpleasant presence. Before I know it, the final bell is ringing and students are flooding into the parking lot, jumping into their own and each other's cars and heading off to their Faction's activity. My eyes sweep around the parking lot, surveying each group as they pass. I spot a group clearly identifiable as the Candor; their bickering and arguing is audible even though they're all the way on the other side of the parking lot. A group near them carries books and the majority of them have glasses, definitely the Erudite. I'm surprised to discover that Caleb is among them. He always fit in better with the other kids at our homeschooling program, better than I did, anyway, always sedately following the rules and keeping his head low, helping others wherever he could.
In fact, there is a group acting exactly how I expected Caleb to act, walking calmly to various cars, always letting others pass ahead of them, wearing baggy clothes, driving in many different directions, probably to help as many people as possible. They must be the Abnegation, the volunteers.
The only group walking into the school is the Amity, carrying their supplies in large plastic bins as they enter the school, with full reign over the property until they go home. My eyes track them as they make their way inside, before I feel a hand fall on my shoulder. I jump, then turn to see Christina grinning. "You ever see those weird murals and paintings on the walls? That's their doing. And sometimes we have a paintball war, that's what those random splashes are. But mostly, it's the Amity that do the interior decor," she says, with a sarcastic flourish of the hand at the final word, her grin growing wider at her mention of the paintball gun fights.
Behind her, I see a small crowd, jostling each other and laughing, each sporting a black armband. Looking around again, I notice that each group has armbands with different colors, the Erudite having blue, the Amity having yellow, the Abnegation with grey, and the Candor having checked black and white.
Turning back to Christina, I say, "Where's my armband?" after noticing she, too, has a black one.
"Here," she says, handing me one with an orange 'I' visible in the middle. I glance at hers again, and also see the orange 'I.'
As I slip the armband on, I look around at the rest of the group, and see that about a third have 'I's, about two thirds have red 'M's, and only two or three have purple 'L's on them. "Hey, what're the letters for?" I ask Christina, but it's Uriah who answers, popping up on my other side.
"There's different levels and statuses among the Dauntless, the 'I's are the lowest level, they stand for 'initiate.' The initiates are all the freshman, plus about half the sophomores, they're the ones who haven't gotten a certain number of wins when we do sparring and stuff. The 'M's are medium level, they stand for 'member,' the people who have gotten that number of wins in sparring, they're pretty much everyone else." He pauses to take a breath, panting before continuing, "The 'L's are the leaders, they're the ones who decide what we do when, what days we do sparring and what days we do other stuff, they make sure we can use our gym, and when we can't, they figure out something else for us to do, that type of thing. They're hand-picked by Eric, 'cause he used to be a Dauntless, and we vote to approve them, they need a 50% or more vote to be approved."
"So what are you?" I ask, trying not to laugh at his efforts to breath normally.
"I'm," *pant pant* "an initiate," *deep breath* "with only three," *pant* "more wins before," *gasp* "I become a member," he wraps up, still panting and gasping for air.
Christina takes over for him then, explaining how Lynn, Marlene, Will, and herself are also initiates, and Zeke and Shauna are both members. "There's also one rank that we don't currently have, that Four used to be, which is the instructor, he had the job of dealing with us noobs and being an asshole. I think right now, no one's an instructor, but Four's still gonna come back and teach sometimes, only now he's getting paid by the gym to deal with us," she finishes.
'Right, so how do we get to the gym?" I ask.
Christina grins. "We run."
"Oh my god, how much farther is this damn place?" I shout at Christina, breathing heavily.
"Only a bit farther!" she shouts back.
"You see that intersection? It's right around that corner!" Zeke yells over his shoulder as he passes us.
I can feel my limbs starting to burn, but we're almost there, so I don't stop.
We finally get to the gym, and I'm panting, struggling to breath normally. Around me, the Dauntless crowd at the entrance, bottlenecking at the small doors that only permit one person at a time through them.
Christina and Will stay with me as I catch my breath. Finally, I'm able to look up from the ground, and I notice that Four is standing in the open doorway, watching us.
"You gonna take the rest of the day? I have to lock up the doors, 'cause official times are technically over," he says quietly.
We walk over, Christina slipping past him quickly, followed immediately by Uriah. I hesitate slightly, contemplating asking him about what he said earlier today in school. But then he raises an eyebrow, and indicates the door, and I blush, slipping through without a word.
As soon as I'm through, Christina slings an arm over my shoulders, and says, "You know, I have a theory about you."
"And it is?" I ask as we pass through the doors to the main training room.
"That you have a death wish."
Once we enter, we spot Zeke and Shauna directing people to various locations, based on their arm bands. The members were all going to one end of the room, and some were leaving to go to different ones. Zeke sees me watching them, and says, "They're going off to the gun range, only seniors are allowed to go."
I nod. "What're they doing?" I ask, gesturing to a few of the ones heading to a supply room and setting up a large target.
Zeke grins. "That's the knife target, we do knife throwing too."
To one side of the room, there's a line of punching bags, and near the middle, there's two sparring rings, one of which is currently being used by two members, throwing punches at each other, but pulling back before the hits land.
Watching them, I say, "Don't people get hurt?"
"Rarely, and we always have a first aid kit and at least one person who's certified, just in case."
"Zeke! Do your job!" a deep voice that I recognize as Four's calls from near the punching bags.
Zeke jumps, then calls back, "Yeah, yeah.." He gestures me to the punching bags, and I join Christina and Uriah in the crowd of other initiates.
A/N Ah, Christina, Zeke, and Uriah, you wonderful exposition dumpers, you. So this was a rather shorter chapter, mainly because I wanted to get this out for you guys. The sad thing is, it took me twelve days to write this - with me knowing exactly what I wanted to do in this chapter! Unlike the next chapter, in which I have no idea what I'll do, especially because it's probably gonna be fighting training, and I don't know a thing about fighting.
So, basically, I'm hedging, because the next chapter probably won't come out until July. And I don't want to feel super guilty like I have every time it takes me over a week.
PLUS, what sucks even more about that, is the fact that in July, we're gonna be house hunting! Meaning I have to consciously think about leaving the house I've lived in for the glorious thirteen years of my life. So that's always fun. (obvious sarcasm is obvious)
So, yeah, a preemptive apology for the lateness of the next chapter.
